WHILE A CIVILIAN ACFT WAS ON DIRECT IFR ROUTING; HE WAS PURSUED BY 2 DIFFERENT MIL ACFT WITHOUT PRIOR ARRANGEMENT TO FLY IN FORMATION FLT.

Date: 1995-04 · Aircraft: PA-30 Twin Comanche

Anomalies: conflict-airborne-conflict|deviation-altitude-excursion-from-assigned-altitude|deviation-track-heading-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance

Synopsis

WHILE A CIVILIAN ACFT WAS ON DIRECT IFR ROUTING; HE WAS PURSUED BY 2 DIFFERENT MIL ACFT WITHOUT PRIOR ARRANGEMENT TO FLY IN FORMATION FLT.

Narrative

WHILE ON AN IFR FLT PLAN FROM DLF AFB TO SSF; I WAS CLRED DIRECT AND WAS MAINTAINING 7000 FT. I RECEIVED A TA FROM ZHU REGARDING VFR TFC 4 MI AWAY AT ROUGHLY 2 O'CLOCK. I SPOTTED THE TFC WHICH WAS A LOW WING; FIXED GEAR; WHITE ACFT WHICH APPEARED TO BE A T-3. IT WAS RAPIDLY CHANGING ALT IN WHAT APPEARED TO BE A LOOP AND WAS ON A BEAM CONVERGING COURSE WHICH TOPPED OUT AT MY ALT. I NOTIFIED ATC THAT I WAS DEVIATING AND ROLLED TO THE L AND DSNDED. THE OTHER ACFT APPEARED TO SEE ME; TURNED AWAY AND I BEGAN RESUMING MY ORIGINAL ALT AND COURSE. ATC THEN ADVISED ME I HAD ADDITIONAL TFC AT A SIMILAR DISTANCE AND LOCATION. SIMILAR EVENTS OCCURRED AND I THEN HAD TO CLB AND TURN L AWAY FROM THIS SECOND ACFT. THE SECOND ACFT; AGAIN APPEARING TO BE A T-3 OR OTHER 2-SEAT FIXED GEAR ACFT; DID NOT TURN AWAY BUT IN FACT MANEUVERED IN LEAD PURSUIT THROUGH SEVERAL ITERATIONS OF CLB; DSCNT AND RAPID TURNS ON MY PART IN ORDER TO AVOID CONVERGING WITH THIS OTHER ACFT. AT FIRST; I WAS CONCERNED THAT THE OTHER ACFT HAD NOT SEEN ME; AND THAT IT CONTINUED TO CONVERGE ON MY ACFT OWING TO HAPPENSTANCE. IT BECAME CLR TO ME AFTER I HAD SUCCEEDED IN GETTING THE VFR ACFT ON MY L SIDE AND REAR QUARTER THAT IT IN FACT WAS SETTING ME UP FOR ANOTHER BEAM PURSUIT. I THEN TURNED R SO AS TO PLACE THE OTHER ACFT AT MY 6 O'CLOCK AND RESUMED MY ALT AND COURSE. IT FOLLOWED ME TO ABOUT 150 FT BELOW AND 1/4 MI SEPARATION AND THEN TURNED AWAY. IT CONTACTED RIDGE CTL (A LCL HONDO MIL AIR TFC ADVISORY FREQ) WHO STATED THAT THEY HAD NUMEROUS ACFT UTILIZING THE AIRSPACE 7000 FT AND BELOW. DURING THE COURSE OF MANEUVERING; IT WAS NECESSARY TO DEVIATE AS MUCH AS 2000 FT ABOVE AND BELOW MY ALT AND 100 DEGS FROM MY COURSE. THE ONLY WAY TO AVOID THIS INCIDENT WOULD BE TO AVOID THAT AREA ENTIRELY; IF THE TRAINING ACFT CHOOSE TO DISREGARD SAFE OPERATING PRACTICES AND TARGET TRANSIENT ACFT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATED THAT HE WAS A MIL FLT SURGEON; AND THAT ONE OF HIS PATIENTS IS INVESTIGATING THE MATTER. RPTR WAS FLYING A PA-30.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.